Bitcoin’s price has recovered considerably since the crash on October 10, yet skepticism remains.
A prominent skeptic, a Bitcoin OG who profited $200 million by shorting BTC before the sell-off on October 10—triggered by President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs on China—has emerged.
This whale placed a new bearish position, escalating it to a $234 million short on BTC through the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, as per Arkham’s data. The liquidation price for this short is $123,000, which is the threshold at which the position will face a margin call and be liquidated by the exchange.
The new short position surfaced as BTC’s rally from the October 10 low of around $104,000 stalled near $114,000 on Tuesday. Since then, the cryptocurrency has retreated to $108,500, based on CoinDesk data.
What occurred on Oct. 10?
On October 10, prices plummeted from approximately $122,000 to $104,000, predominantly in the late hours following President Trump’s announcement of an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods atop existing tariffs of 30%.
This announcement followed China’s tightening of controls on rare earth exports, leading to a decline in risk assets. The BTC sell-off worsened due to technical issues at Binance, resulting in volatility for key tokens like Ethena’s synthetic dollar USDe.
Notably, the BTC whale established a significant short position roughly 30 minutes before Trump’s tariff announcement. The subsequent price drop reaped substantial profits for the trader and sparked allegations of insider trading.
